Watertown man sentenced to up to 5½ years in prison for heroin sale try

A Watertown man was sentenced Friday in Jefferson County Court to up to 5½ years in state prison for trying to sell heroin in December.

Raimundo Marteliz III, 45, no fixed address, also was ordered to undergo an additional two years of supervision upon his release from prison after a June 14 guilty plea to third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance. He admitted that he tried to sell the drug within the county Dec. 5.

Judge Kim H. Martusewicz mandated that he serve his sentence in the prison systems Willard Drug Treatment Program. If inmates complete the 90-day program, they serve the remainder of their sentence under parole supervision.

Mr. Marteliz was sentenced as a second-felony offender, having been convicted in County Court of first-degree forgery and sentenced in June 2005 to one to three years in prison. He also was sentenced to 3½ to 7 years in prison after a June 2011 guilty plea to third-degree burglary and was referred to the Willard program. He was returned to prison in May 2012 for violating parole and was released in October, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision website.

In other court activity:

Roderick B. Pugh, 40, Syracuse, was sentenced to six months in the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building and five years probation after pleading guilty Feb. 7 to two counts each of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was charged in a grand jury indictment handed up in June 2012 with having and selling cocaine within the county in mid-March 2011 and again in early April 2011.

Before his sentencing, Mr. Pugh made a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming, among other things, that the court did not have jurisdiction over him and that he was not Roderick Pugh, but an entity known as The Noble One. Judge Martusewicz rejected his motion, telling Mr. Pugh that the disposition of his case was favorable to him, as the Onondaga County Probation Department, which had conducted a presentence investigation in the matter, had recommended that Mr. Pugh be sentenced to prison. His probation supervision will be transferred to Onondaga County.

Devin Daniels, 24, Baltimore, Md., was sentenced to six months in the PSB and five years probation after pleading guilty June 17 to third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance. He had been accused in a grand jury indictment handed up in April of selling cocaine in mid-January.

Tyree D. Gary, 21, of 505 Arsenal St., pleaded guilty to third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance. Further information about the charge was not available. He is expected to be sentenced Sept. 6 to a year in prison, followed by a year of post-release supervision.

Dejaun J. Butler, 22, Lumberton, N.C., was arraigned on a sealed indictment containing three counts each of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. It is alleged that he had and sold cocaine twice on the same day in early November and again in early January. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and bail was set at $10,000. He is incarcerated in St. Lawrence County jail, Canton, on a drug sale charge, on allegations he sold cocaine in February in Ogdensburg.

Colley Curry, 26, an inmate at Upstate Correctional Facility, Malone, was arraigned on an indictment containing two counts each of second-degree assault and second-degree harassment, as well as a single count of first-degree assault. It is alleged that on Jan. 6 at Watertown Correctional Facility, he repeatedly jumped on the leg of another inmate, William Monarch, causing compound fractures to Mr. Monarchs tibia and fibula, requiring surgery and causing an extensive disability. It further is alleged that he punched Mr. Monarch, knocking him to the floor.

Mr. Curry pleaded not guilty to the charges and was held on $1,500 bail. He is serving a five-year prison sentence imposed in New York County in 2010 for third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Christopher N. Moore, 33, Dallas, Texas, had bail set at $50,000 after being charged Tuesday with third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a Class D felony, third-degree unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of marijuana. He also was issued numerous vehicle and traffic tickets, including speeding, reckless driving and unlicensed operation.

Mr. Moore allegedly led police on a multi-county chase that began in Cortland County and ended on Interstate 81 near Adams Center when state police deployed spike strips, deflating both front tires of a pickup truck that had been reported stolen May 31 in the Kilgore, Texas, area.

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